Understated, though never inconsequential. Edwyn Collins.

That onetime OJ crooner Edwyn Collins should return warbling: “Too bad/ That’s sad/ I can’t stay/ Another day with you” over a stereotypically effervescent, if abnormally soulful stomp is somewhat strange, given the heroic efforts over these past seven or eight years of longstanding partner, Grace Maxwell. The two words to compose the name of his wife-cum-manager were one of only four phrases he was able to utter having suffered a second cerebral haemorrhage back in ’05: affirmative and negative linguistic lynchpins yes and no were of course also included in Collins’ somewhat restrictive expressive capabilities, though it’s the fourth and final one which has since been so wondrously vindicated. The possibilities are endless. Arguably Edinburgh’s finest ever songsmith, the man himself is an unspeakably positive case in point of this unfeasible is nothing approach, and in many respects to have him composing and performing anything at all would be dumbfounding enough. However that his miraculously reconstructed songwriting techniques have continued as though these afflictions aforesaid never ever happened is a preternatural modern-day inexplicability; a human wonder. Musically Too Bad (That’s Sad), the lead track from forthcoming self-released full-length Understated, picks up right where his frankly outstanding previous, Losing Sleep, left off which, all eventualities accounted for and duly considered, is as inviting an artistic environ as any. Welcome back, Edwyn; too, too good as ever from the eternal inspirer.